New U.S. sanctions targeting an Iranian-Russian network of oil supplies to Syria are “awkward,’’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“Attempts to indict oil supplies to Syria, whose armed forces have been fighting terrorists for eight years, look like a statement of support for terrorists.

“Also a wish to prevent the restoration of a ravaged country with a large population deprived of electricity and heat,’’ it said in a statement.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an Iranian-Russian oil supply network, saying it was shipping “millions of barrels of Iranian oil into Syria” and funded Hamas and Hezbollah with the revenue.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the new U.S. sanctions against Russia were the 11th in the last three and a half months and were increasingly becoming a routine. (Xinhua/NAN)